The Role of Controllability and Foreseeability in Children's Counterfactual Emotions.
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| Title: | The Role of Controllability and Foreseeability in Children's Counterfactual Emotions. |
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| Authors: | Jones, Alicia K. (AUTHOR), Gautam, Shalini (AUTHOR), Redshaw, Jonathan (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Child Development. May/Jun2025, Vol. 96 Issue 3, p1098-1111. 14p. |
| Subjects: | Child development, Emotions, Self-control, Counterfactuals (Logic), Regret, Sadness |
| Abstract: | Counterfactual emotions such as regret may aid future decision‐making by encouraging people to focus on controllable features of personal past events. However, it remains unclear when children begin to preferentially focus on controllable features of such events. Across two studies, Australian 4–9‐year‐olds (N = 336, 168 females; data collected during 2021–2022) completed tasks that led to positive or negative personal outcomes, and then reported their emotions toward different aspects of these tasks. In both studies, younger children unexpectedly reported stronger sadness toward uncontrollable or unforeseeable aspects of negative events, and only by 8–9 years did many children report stronger sadness toward controllable or foreseeable aspects. The tendency to focus on more functional counterfactuals may therefore emerge relatively late in development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Child Development is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
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